At the pressuring of family I contacted one malpractice attorney this morning, they returned my email with a phone call from an aide and since the attorney herself has just called. She told me that this would be an open and shut case, most likely not even to make it past the initial filing and a settlement. She is willing to do it on a contingency basis etc.
Now the issue is, we don’t want money we want to make sure this professional school therapist doesn’t “coerce*” another child. The attorney has set up a meeting for Friday so I am trying to find options out before then. Will they still do it if I don’t want money beyond her fees? Will going through with it make the school fire this person or just make her retrain? And does this make me look like a vindictive asshat? (Surprise I don’t care about that, if it was done by the book this wouldn’t have happened the person who did the interview had no experience with nonverbal, let alone autistic children)
I do not favor attacking the child safety net, that is why I am apprehensive in going forward but damn, I don’t want this to happen again to anyone else.
I have the paperwork from Pittsburgh that states
“baseless” “coerced” “leading questions” “further review not necessary”
Yes that makes me feel like slamming it on tables and pointing, but will that alone accomplish the same goals as actually filing a suit?
*exact word used by the CPS paid examiner in Pittsburgh.
I am not licensed in your jurisdiction but this is based on my experience working in medical malpractice (which I don’t do right now). Ok! Disclaimers are done!
Probably not, unless you are willing to pay the attorney’s per hour fee directly. Under contingency fee arrangements, the attorney gets a share of your winnings. If you lose, they get nothing except whatever minor costs are specified in the retainer agreement (usually small sums for filing fees). An attorney working on contingency will generally NOT agree to sue someone “to make a point only,” first of all because there’s no way for them to earn income, and secondly because, while you have a very valid complaint, it smacks of abuse of process (you are not supposed to use the legal system purely to cause grief and distress to other people, without wanting any remedy the law offers).
I doubt if there is any way to say what will happen to the employee. it is possible she could be fired, or placed on some form of probation. Usually schools do not look kindly on employees that cause them to be sued. Even though only think you are suing her, you are also suing the school, I guarantee it. The school is the one who will pay any damages. VERY unlikely the actual teacher will ever have to pay anything, unless somehow she was not engaged in her official duties at the time when the incident occured. There is certainly no guarnatee whatsoever that the school system will react to the lawsuit by offering more training.
Some people will think you are bad or worse than the employee who filed the report, others will think you are perfectly justified. Most people will form their opinions without knowing all the facts (some of which you may be forced to keep secret in a settlement) and whatever the repercussion of that is, will be yours to deal with. I rememberyou mentioning that gossip is a huge concern for you. if that’s correct, poll people well aquainted with your local community, not us.
If your only goal is to alert the person who made the report of your displeasure, you can file a greivance with the state agency or assosication that licenses the caregiver. Depending on her history of complaints, this could result in the licensing authority taking actions that range from “absolutely nothing” to “revoking her license.”
That will probably be very difficult to accomplish. (As I see Hello Again just covered), an attorney taking your case on contingency will usually be getting paid a percentage of your settlement. If you don’t actually want to win an award, the attorney doesn’t have anything to take a cut of. Your attorney obviously has a motivation to maximize the award-to-time-spent ratio as a result. Since that isn’t your motivation, and actually sounds like you have reason to want to avoid cashing in, it might be in your best interest to consider some other options.
There are a handful of groups pursuing class-action lawsuits (and some who have already filed and settled) against CPS. You might try contacting one of them to see if there’s somebody out there who can provide you with an option that is more satisfying to you. Or maybe you can settle your case and put that toward an advocacy campaign that’s focused on the message you want to spread.
My sympathies regarding what happened with your daughter, by the way. That must be an awful experience.
For a variety of reasons, including (i) that the school therapist was not rendering medical or psychological treatment, but rather collecting information for a report to CPS, (ii) the low level of evidence (a scintilla!) required to initiate adminstrative investigations, and (iii) a sense that there is a probably a qualified immunity for school officials who are commanded to report suspicions of abuse, I have grave doubts that this will be “an open-and-shut case.” On the other hand, you seem keen to accept a settlement, so that will make it easier.
Nobody likes to work for free, I would be willing to bet they are right.
If you just want to make a point, you file a complaint with whatever agency licences the professional who has acted inappropriately. Almost anyone in any such position including teachers have state level licences and or certifications that can be revoked for showing a pattern poor professional judgement. Even if your complaint does not result in disciplinary action, several of them over time will.
If you want to make a point and make sure the school district does not go off half cocked on you again, bring out the attack lawyers and tell them to take no prisoners. Yes the school district will have zero love for you, but they will probably never fuck with you again.
If you do not want the money and there is a serious settlement, perhaps it could be used for seeking more advanced or extensive therapy for your daughter or donated to organizations that help support families of special needs children. You might even want to officially notify the school district you made that donation so they know it was not just you trying to cash in on a bad situation.
Thank you I may end up going this route, due to not really wanting anything other than a change.
Thank you, I can without a doubt say it caused a lot of heart-wrenching and it was destructive to the point it felt like betrayal. If it was handled properly it would have resulted in… nothing. As it stands it resulted in more damage than you can assess for just a week of pure hell for those involved. On a personal side, it was unbelievable like living in a fog for a week, even with everyone united it still caused emotional hurt that I do not want another family to experience due to negligence.
No, the reporter would be shielded as they merely referred her to the licensed person who then blew it completely. The group referred her to the therapist and it would have been fine had the therapist not coerced, led, and went beyond her knowledge and expertise. I was informed plainly by the attorney the therapist would not be shielded for negligence. Here is how I was told it should have been done.
Had she said she was unqualified to interview someone such as Jaelyn, and they in turn still felt it was needed to notify CPS then CPS would have sent in a specialized therapist and this would not have occurred. As it is, CPS was notified that a child was interviewed by a licensed therapist who was told by the child she was sexually abused.
I want change, bottom line money won’t change anything, it feels hopeless because I really don’t want to hurt the system, but I do want to make sure the system works as intended not as some people get together see fit. As it is, my daughters BSC(the overseer with a BSC do not know her actual title) is not allowed back in the school because she was the first one to confront them about allowing the interview knowing limitations Jaelyn has. This is a tit for tat town, as I stated in the other thread no love is lost already since I forced many issues with the IEP, to the degree that I was close to making them pay to send her to a specialized school if they didn’t follow IDEA.
This will be long and convoluted, but I need to say it since it may make sense to people. Tuesday night when this happened, no one was removed from the home, they came they talked they left. Wednesday the caseworker called we were told point blank this was handled wrong, but since it was called in the way it was we would have to have the exam etc. Thursday the caseworker calls again and talks some more and says this “The school called my office today, since Jaelyn gets sick frequently they were concerned about who she had to pick her up since her mother doesn’t drive” The caseworker told them “The dad of course” the school official who called was then informed by the caseworker that no one was removed etc. As she said this I asked if that was normal, and she said by no means was that something she encountered before. Take that as paranoia or as just a story I don’t know what to take it as other than targeted.
I would be calling reporters, maybe even the team from All Things Considered, they may want to add in some “similar stuff happens elsewhere” angles to the forthcoming two parts of the ongoing investigation of CPS activities in South Dakota among the Native Americans.
I realize your issue isn’t with CPS itself, in fact it seems they were reasonable, but the paranoia associated with everything regarding children in the US needs to be moderated. Teachers, especially in special education, should be doubly vigilant to ensure they’re not filing inaccurate reports. Making an example out of one may not be the most compassionate response to what they put your family through, but the number of tools a victimized family has are pretty limited, so while I’m not normally a litigious person, I can see doing it in this situation.
They could have sent you to jail and ruined your life, and had your kid/s in fosterage. As it is, there will be snide gossip about this whole mess for years.
Sue and get it all out in public where people can actually see what exactly happened. At minimum retraining all around, and recompense for anything you have spent for the whole mess.
If you want real change suing for a hefty amount is about the only real world way that will happen. “Complaints” are mosquito bites compared to a lawsuit, and they will be regarded as such, little to nothing will happen. If you are going to do this you need to be heart attack serious about going all in. If you are not, you are wasting everyone’s time in pursuing a lawsuit, especially the attorneys.
Your best case scenario would be a quick settlement by the school’s insurance company if your case is really that open and shut. Failing that be aware that your motivations and parenting skills may be called into question as part of their defense, or that a jury might not find your story as compelling the person’s who turned you in who can claim they were “trying to do the right thing”.
An incompetent boob getting fired and/or blacklisted in your state would be a win all around, don’t you think? Don’t worry about the consequences for the therapist. Professional misconduct is serious. She seriously deserves to get fired.
Money can’t change anything? Why do you think this? Filing suit, and by extension affecting a company’s bottom line, is often the ONLY way you can get them to pay any attention to you. If you do receive a settlement, it will almost certainly come from the school’s insurance company. This results in them paying higher future premiums. When they go to pay that insurance bill, they will remember, “Wow, guess we shouldn’t have fucked with RyJae back then. Maybe we shouldn’t fuck with her or any other disabled kids in the future, or this could happen again.” Without the direct link between “fucking with an autistic kid’s family” and “higher out-of-pocket costs for years plus a potential hit to the school’s reputation,” nothing will change.
If you are owed legal compensation for the damages you’ve suffered, then you should bloody well take it (and gracefully, none of this martyr junk). I guess you could donate the money if you really can’t use it, but do you not seriously feel like you deserve it for the emotional pain and inconvenience their incompetence caused you? They can’t undo that pain, so the next best thing is to give you money to make the future better (and as above, the money provides a deterrence factor, hopefully preventing them doing this to you or anyone else again). Playing the martyr might make you feel altruistic, but think what good things you could do for your daughter with the money you would win. Why doesn’t she deserve it? Why don’t you?
If you win, I guarantee the school officials will hate you. They will think you are a massive bitch. **They are wrong. **You are doing the right thing in advocating for your child! Anyway, even if you lose, you will cause them to bend over backwards when interacting with you from now on, because they know YOU don’t fuck around when it comes to your kid.
You say you only want them to make changes… but suing is the *only surefire way *to bring about those changes. Reporting an incident to the state licensing board (by itself) won’t do jack shit. You should definitely still do that, but you also need to hit them where it hurts–their wallet.
Reputation issues are a very distant second to providing for your child. Please, PLEASE stop caring what small-minded, small-town hickfucks think about you. If you do the right thing and decide to sue, you should probably stop talking about the incident here, though (and ask a mod to delete this thread and the original). You may be required to sign a non-disclosure agreement if you receive a settlement.
If they were trying to do the right thing the professional would not be in the cross-hairs. It is like this, Jaelyn is non verbal with some sign language and ability to communicate HER wants and needs using ASL or her ipods AAC device. This is not a passing thing, this is something everyone is aware of. If she is hungry she will sign hungry, if she wants to leave she will sign bye. What she will not do, and it has been tried and tried and still trying is respond to something outside of her wants. As in “Jaelyn did you have fun at the park” will get the same answer as “Jaelyn do you want to sit in time out” or “Jaelyn is it safe to cross the road” etc She will respond yes, because it doesn’t matter to her, this is an issue in her IEP etc for years. Something they and the professional should have been aware of.
Asking Jaelyn, did someone touch you there was a 100% positive. No matter which way it is stated, the person should not have done so. They have methods, both medical and therapists who are trained just for these kind of cases, one should have been brought in.
My parenting skills were called into question already, the blackness is still in my heart, I just want to see this never happen again.
I am thrilled with the replies, and will keep everyone informed no matter which way we decide to go with this. I have already made progress with the outside agency, they have verbally agreed to training. There culpability being the TSS was part of the “group” of like aged young ladies. I am admittedly happy with the phone call I had with a supervisor a bit ago, he was more willing to accept blame for the part they played in this. And that was admirable, accepting and changing. Part of the problem with the agency (IMHO) is they spent decades focused on troubled youths and the autism wing is fairly young. So maybe they just need to better train the aides etc to spot and report properly.
But you’re right if I go forward it has to be scorched earth.
On preview rachelellogram we could use the money, of course, but I don’t want anyone to think it is about the money if that makes sense?
I want to try to explain the feelings for someone who may not have experienced this, it is betrayal, it is knowing that every time your daughter gives you a hug or a kiss that feeling in the back of your mind that some hurtful fucker sees it as something else. It is that emotional feeling of being ripped apart, explaining it to your son why for a week he wasn’t allowed to hug his sister, play with his sister. It was nights with no sleep, days with no rest, a lump in your stomach that no amount of knowing your innocence can remove.
Knowing from now on every time a school function happens one or two people looking at you are wondering if you or your family abused your daughter. Money, mere money, can never make that better.
When she was diagnosed, I read all about autism, and found one thing most unsettling. Autistic children sometimes never show affection, we were blessed with a daughter who loves hugs and getting and giving kisses. And now… now it hurts to think that others thought something sick and disgusting was occurring.
**Nothing **can ever make that better. And hitting the school in the wallet is the only thing that’s going to make them stand up and pay attention and change in the future. So you might as well take the cash.
equRaJay, first, I’m really sorry for everything you had to go though. It sounds like you are a wonderful parent, and it’s just so wrong on how they handled.
For my advice.
As they say, shit runs downhill, and one of the best ways of really getting changes is to make it expensive for the party to “make mistakes.” Having their directors / management have to undergo depositions provides a strong incentive for them to really ensure that correct procedures are implemented. An even moderately expensive settlement will also put pressure on them from their insurance company.
If you don’t want the cash, which I think is really admirable, donate your part of the award to PDD research or some other equally good cause. If you go that way, talk to the attorney or a tax consultant about how to work it out to not cause you a tax burden. Maybe make a condition of the settlement is that the school pays the money directly to the charity. That maybe make you look less vindictive. From what you have had to go through, I wouldn’t really care what people though of you, except it’s a small town, right?
I’m never dealt with malpractice attorneys, but I would strongly recommend you interview several of them. If you get to the stage of seriously considering filing, pay another attorney for a one hour session to get an unbiased second opinion.
That really is a bitch for what you had to go though, and just make sure that whatever steps you take don’t add to the mess.
Nothing gets the chain of commands attention like a court ordered settlement. A complaint that gets a licence suspended or revoked will just be " you have no licence, sorry you’re gone". a settlement from the district will have EVERYONE looking at every member of the chain of command between the fuckup in question and probably state level school oversight comitties. Everyone will be saying to their underlings on the way down “how the hell did you let this happen?”.